LOOKING BACK. PUSHING FORWARD.

“No problem was ever solved at the same level of consciousness that created it.” 

-       Albert Einstein

There was a time when what would eventually come to be called Metanoia was called the “Charleston Poverty Initiative.” The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of South Carolina had hired my wife, Evelyn, and I to do something to effect positive change in the zip code of South Carolina with the highest concentrations of child poverty. They wisely gave us a year to spend listening to the community before any work began. In that first year, we met Ida Taylor who would become a friend and mentor. Ida has mentored generations of young people in her role as the director of the Gesthemani Community Center in Union Heights in the heart of the community. In our very first conversation, Ida let us know a name change would be in order. 

“How come whenever people come from the outside, all they want to do is talk about how poor we are?” she asked. “We are not poor! We may not have as much money as some communities, but we are not poor.”

Ida was speaking truth and we were going to need a name change.

After a little research and with a nod to the faith that had brought us to this work, we decided to suggest this funny Greek word found in the New Testament - Metanoia – to a newly formed board of directors in that first year (which included Ida). It is a testimony to how patient that original board was with us, and maybe because even a weird name was better than the original, that the board agreed to use the name. Over 19 years of work, our curious little Greek moniker keeps opening new meanings for us. It has become not just a name, but a mission that is fundamental to who seek to become as a movement.

The word metanoia means to make a positive transformation of heart and mind (“meta” meaning “with” and “noia” meaning “understanding”). It is change with deep understanding. I have learned that the most important qualification of someone wanting to work alongside our organization and community is how open they are to change and transformation within themselves. Likewise, the most important posture I can take in my role as a leader at Metanoia is that of a learner who has to be open to new and different ways of thinking every day if we are to do effective work.   

We live in a society that is becoming increasingly good at diagnosing how other people need to change their minds as a defense mechanism against having to change our own minds. However,  have come to believe that changing our minds about how we see one another and the world around us is the most essential component to solving the big problems that lie before us. 

From the beginning, I think Metanoia’s most important work has been in our mission of revealing a fuller picture of the communities where we work. Where others see problems and deficiencies, we see heroism and potential of people struggling against many odds. I find our most rewarding work comes when people (whether they be donors, volunteers, students, or community citizens) begin to see and think differently about negatively labeled people and neighborhoods as the result of their engagement.

This fall one of our 8th grade students began to do internships with two small Black owned businesses that we are working to incubate along Reynolds Avenue. Jas goes to Daddy’s Girls Bakery one day per week and then The Creative Realm Space another day. She is being mentored by hard working Black entrepreneurs who know something of her own experience and can paint a new future for her. At The Creative Realm Space, she has quickly learned to use Adobe Photoshop to start designing potential products that she would like to develop one day as an entrepreneur. Jas emerges beaming from these internships, a head full of new ideas of what might be possible for her in the future. She is embodying Metanoia right before our eyes—seeing herself and the world around her differently. 

One of the favorite parts of my job is getting to sign over homes to new homeowners as we did with two new homebuyers this year. What a privilege it was to sit across the table from Samone Ivey and hear her excitement as she relayed that she had not yet told her young children that Mom was about to purchase a home. They simply would walk into this new space and be told that it was theirs; no more having to move around. Samone later reported she could hardly get them to leave the house, they were so proud to be there. In time they will be eligible to participate in our youth programming but already they are seeing differently. They are embodying Metanoia.

But it is not just the residents of the community that can or must have a metanoia (a change of heart and mind). This year at Metanoia we began The Metanoian Circle. It is a collection of friends of our work that want to help us expand our reach and base of support. As we polled this group and asked why they felt it was worth their time to help this way, they all reported how powerful it was to visit the projects and programs Metanoia operates.  They were coming to see a community that they might have previously thought of as at-risk or full of liabilities, but they left with a change of heart, mind, and thinking that the community is full of opportunities and possibilities. This December, within the course of one day I talked to two different donors that were significantly increasing giving to our work without our asking them to do so. When I asked why they both said the same thing almost to a word: “You all are doing such good work.” Those supporters themselves are embodying Metanoia. 

There is much to be proud of in 2021:

In all of the work listed above I can think of ways that I have seen people embodying Metanoia – being open to changing their hearts and minds and seeing differently in ways that enhance the health of the community. 

This fall, we gathered about 30 staff, board, and significant partners together to think deeply about what matters most to our work. What struck me most about hearing people’s testimonies on that day is how each person in the room was on a journey. No one was content to keep their same old assumptions and boundaries. Everyone was working hard to process what they were learning and experiencing in our collective life together. We were embodying Metanoia. 

It really is a miracle to me that what began 19 years ago has blossomed to a movement with so many remarkable people trying to embody Metanoia. The work has made me much more than I have made it. It has been such good ground for so many metanoias in my own life. I am astounded at my good fortune.   

2022 looks to be an important year. We could never have dreamed in that initial year of listening that we would still be here and active in so many areas twenty years later.

We have 18 additional units of housing planned for the year. We will be announcing new support and initiatives, and we will see significant progress on major projects we have been working on for years. But if we see change outside of us without any change inside us, we will have failed at the deepest mission of Metanoia. Indeed, if there has been any ‘secret’ to the successes we have had, it has been a commitment to build a movement that is always as focused on personal growth and transformation as it is on social change and community programs.

I am grateful that because of your support we will have an opportunity in 2022 once again to embody Metanoia! God’s peace and a happy new year to all.


Rev. Bill Stanfield
CEO

Metanoia